Railroads are typically constructed to include a pair of elongated, substantially parallel rails, which are coupled to a plurality of laterally extending ties. The ties are disposed on a ballast bed of hard particulate material, such as gravel. Over time, normal wear and tear on the railroad may require track maintenance operations to correct rail deviations.
Rail vehicles for track maintenance operations include workheads for performing the desired track maintenance, such as ballast tamping, spike pulling, spike driving, anchor spreading, anchor squeezing, track stabilizing, crib booming, tie extracting, or other maintenance operations. Workheads for track maintenance operations have typically been designed to include workheads disposed on one side of a frame for attaching the workheads to the rail vehicle. Workheads for track maintenance operations are typically actuated using hydraulic cylinders. Increasing the number of cylinders increases design complexity, which can lead to failures of the workheads to perform their desired functions. Accordingly, improved workhead designs are desired for reducing design complexity and associated functionality problems that may arise with such design complexity. Further, improved workhead assembly designs are desired to facilitate tamping, including in switch areas and areas with restricted clearance envelope.